1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to managing candidate counterpart terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems that allow communication among a remotely located sites via a communication network such as the Internet have become popular. An example of such a communication system includes a videoconference system. For example, a terminal used by one of two parties that are holding a videoconference converts an image and sound of a subject in a conference room to digital data and transmits the digital data to a terminal used by the other party. The terminal used by the other party displays an image on a display and outputs sound from a speaker. Accordingly, a videoconference between remotely located sites can be held in a state that is similar to an actual conference.
In such a conference system, technology that registers a candidate counterpart terminal in a candidate list is available. Using the candidate list, a user at a terminal can easily call a terminal that serves as a candidate counterpart terminal to start communication.
On the other hand, many terminals are used in a large organization such as a company. In such environment, there is an administrator who manages terminals of users. Sometimes, the administrator may want to dispose of an old terminal being managed by the administrator, for example, to replace it with a new terminal. Even after the terminal is disposed of, that terminal continues to be registered as a candidate counterpart terminal of the other terminals that are under management of the administrator. Thus, every time the terminal is removed from the terminals being managed by the administrator, the administrator deletes that terminal not managed by the administrator, from the candidate counterpart terminal for the other terminals being managed by the administrator.